Educating Teachers of Science, Mathematics, and Technology New Practices for the New Millennium (2001) / Chapter Skim
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The Continuum of Teacher Education in Science, Mathematics, and Technology: Problems and Issues
The Continuum of Teacher Education in Science, Mathematics, and Technology: Problems and Issues
Pages 30-43
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From page 30... ...
" Are four years of education at the prebaccalaureate level sufficient to produce competent teachers in these subject areas? How can professional development programs improve a teacher's effectiveness in the classroom?
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From page 31... ...
However, numerous studies and the results from a variety of the Praxis and other teacher licensing and certification examinations demonstrate that many teachers, especially those who wall teach in grades K-S do not have sufficient content knowledge or adequate skills for teaching these disciplines. · In addition to benchmarks and standards for science, mathematics, and technology from national organizations (e.g., AAAS, 1993; NRC, 1996a; NCI`M, 1989, 2000;1TEA, 2000; American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges, 1995)
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From page 32... ...
For example, information technology wail likely play an increasingly pervasive role in teaching and learning yet, according to several recent reports, teacher education programs are not providing prospective or practicing teachers with enough preparation to enable them to use information technology tools effectively to enhance teaching and learning (Milker Family Foundation, 1999; CEO Forum, 1999, 20001. While many educators and policy analysts consider educational technology as a vehicle for transforming education, relatively few teachers (20 percent)
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From page 33... ...
too often consists of a patchwork of courses, curricula, and programs and may do little to enhance teachers' content knowiedge or the techniques and skids they need to teach science and mathematics effectively. The quality, coherence, and usefulness of professional development programs for improving the quality of teaching and student learning vary considerably.
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From page 34... ...
Inservice education for teachers also is among the first programs to be cut by school districts when resources are scarce or when school days are lost because of inclement weather or other unforeseen circumstances. This lack of support for or provision of high-quality, professional (levelopment opportunities by school (listricts also is becoming increasingly coupled with demands by states that teachers acquire advanced degrees to become permanently certified.
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From page 35... ...
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (1994) has articulated such standards or guidelines for the teaching profession.
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From page 36... ...
This lack of common expectations can result in teachers with similar degrees having experienced substantially different levels of preparation during their preservlce years. · The continuum of professional development: Other professions mark the awarding of the baccalaureate degree as the beginning of a career path.
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From page 37... ...
Inservice programs, in turn, may offer more experienced teachers information and perspectives about teaching that might be better suited to preservice students or those who are about to begin their teaching careers. · Encouragement and incentives for continuing education within the profession: Employers who require or encourage people in the early stages of their careers to pursue additional education either pay completely for or subsidize the costs of such advanced training.
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From page 38... ...
state `~...`alternative certification, has been used to refer to every avenue to becoming licensed to teach, from emergency certification to very sophisticated and well-designed programs that address the professional preparation needs of the growing population of individuals who already have at least a baccalaureate degree and considerable life experience and want to become teachers." Feistritzer and Chester also point out that nearly all states now offer opportunities to people who have earned college degrees in fields other than education to return to college, major in education, and become certified teachers. Several states provide alternative routes to teaching where individuals with bachelor's degrees can engage in "on-thejob training" while taking various college level courses (vs.
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From page 39... ...
Most K-12 teachers also do not have workspaces separate from their students or even access to a telephone within their workspace for work-related communications. Exceptional enterprise or innovation may not be tangibly rewarded due to workplace rules.7 Senior teachers typically are not asked to offer their expertise, insights, anti perspectives to help improve teacher education programs for less senior colleagues.
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From page 40... ...
In 1999, a survey of 501 collegebound high-school students from Montgomery County, MD, public schools indicated that a majority of these students was reluctant even to consi(ler teaching as a career option. Reporting out the results from the survey, Hart Research Associates (199918 stated that 39 percent of the students in the survey had no interest in becoming teachers in public schools, with another 16 percent expressing little interest.
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From page 41... ...
On the one hand, most of these students profess admiration for the teaching profession; they un(lerstan(1 that shaping young minds is important work. On the other hand, they view the job of being a PROBLEMS AND ISSUES teacher as work that is uninteresting." Thus, the Committee on Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation is convinced that the status To in the education and professional development of teachers of science and mathematics does not meet the needs of either teachers or the teaching profession.
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From page 42... ...
· All colleges anti universities, whether or not they offer formal teacher education programs, would make teacher education one of their institution's central priorities.9 The highest levels of leadership from postsecondary education communities would affirm their institutions' commitment to teacher education as a basic tenet of their e(lucational mission. Higher education organizations would assist their member institutions to develop programs to increase awareness of all faculty members about the importance of teacher education and their roles in it.
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From page 43... ...
New research PROBLEMS AND ISSUES that focuses broadly on synthesizing data across studies and linking it to school practice in a wide variety of school settings would be especially helpful to the improvement of teacher education and professional development for both prospective and experienced · Concomitant with such collaboration would be the development of a culture of education that recognizes all of these partners as having equal voices at the table. All partners would be equally responsible for the leadership required to prepare future educators and improve the knowledge base and skills of all practicing teachers in both the K-12 and higher education sectors.
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